Thanks to that pesky Pedro Pascal and his status as one of the industry’s most in-demand actors, we’ve been hearing plenty of conflicting reports about when The Mandalorian will begin shooting Season 3. Reports have ranged from before 2021 is out to several years down the line, but as of yet we’ve not had an official confirmation from either Lucasfilm, Disney or showrunner Jon Favreau.
Pascal’s first-position deal to headline HBO’s video game adaptation The Last of Us is the issue, with the star having kicked off his stint as Joel last week in Calgary, and production isn’t due to end for another eleven months. That’s obviously going to pose some scheduling headaches for The Mandalorian, unless of course they simply replace him with a stuntman and have the lead record his dialogue from afar.
However, a new report from the reputable American Cinematographer magazine claims that Season 3 is already in production, although it was thrown out there in a fairly off-handed manner in a story focusing on how Lucasfilm’s pioneering Stagecraft technology looks to be changing the game.
“Shows that planned to leverage in-camera VFX from the start include two that will be shot using StageCraft, Industrial Light & Magic’s real-time animation pipeline for LED volumes: The Book of Boba Fett, which will be released later this year, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, set for release in 2022. Both series will use the same volume initially built for The Mandalorian in Manhattan Beach, Calif. More Star Wars shows, including Andor, are in production at Pinewood Studios in England, where ILM has built another large StageCraft volume. Season 3 of The Mandalorian is now in production.”
There’s every chance second unit footage could be getting shot to get ahead of the game, but the fact the yearlong shoot for The Last of Us only called action seven days ago over 2500 kilometers away from The Mandalorian‘s home base of Manhattan Beach Studios in California makes it very unlikely if not downright logistically impossible that Pedro Pascal is suited, booted and ready to go as Din Djarin.
As The Book of Boba Fett edges closer to premiering in December we should be hearing a whole lot more about the status of The Mandalorian Season 3, but as things stand there’s been no concrete details provided by the studio.
